Monday, November 17, we will meet in person.
Go to calendar for our schedule
Address for OHMC meditation space:
3812 Northampton St. NW, Washington DC 20015
Please arrive a few minutes early so we can invite the bell on time. You may also arrive 15 minutes early to practice working meditation by helping us set up cushions.
Dear friends,
This week, we will meet Monday evening, November 17, from 7-8:30PM ET in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); Wednesday morning, November 19, from 7-8AM ET online; and Friday, November 21, from 12-1PM ET in person/online (hybrid).
On Monday, in celebration of Native American Day, Magda will guide us in exploring Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings on reverence for our ancestors.
Magda will share reflections on the gifts of wisdom and healing from Indigenous traditions in a special two-week series.
This week, Magda will honor the Piscataway, Tainx, and Osage peoples—especially the women she has encountered throughout her life and deeply admires. Next week, she will honor the Navajo and New Mexico Pueblos, the Apache involved in the Oak Flat movement, and the Sioux.
Please wear comfortable clothing, as Magda will also guide us in an Earth Touching Ceremony.
Warriors, Artists, and Meditators: Honoring Indigenous Women and Their Most Precious Gifts
“A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground; then, no matter how brave its warriors nor how strong their weapons, it is done.” The Spirit of Indian Women, p. 93
“I was ready to spend ten days in the mountain wilderness as a young woman. This was my final preparation for a future as a renowned medicine woman.” The Spirit of Indian Women, p, 123
In Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet, Thich Nhat Hanh writes that Earth will be saved by warriors, artists, and meditators. As we celebrate Native American life, I think of the Indigenous women whose courage, creativity, and spirituality have deeply touched my heart. I think of their strength and of the ways they have used their creative and healing hands to serve their communities.
The Piscataway
“Among our Potawatomi people, women are the Keepers of Water. We carry the sacred water to ceremonies and act on its behalf. Women have a natural bond with water, because we are both life bearers. We carry our babies in internal ponds and they come forth into the world on a wave of water. It is our responsibility to safeguard the water for all our relations.” Braiding Sweetgrass, p. 94
Dr. Gabrielle Tayac, co-founder of Nekamaco in Nanjemoy, Maryland, has done much to restore honor to her ancestral Piscataway lands. Gabi (as she likes to be called) has dedicated herself to renewing ancient practices such as the sweatlodge, intergenerational gatherings, sacred chanting, and the invocation of the waters of the Nanjemoy River that flows past her home.
Gabi’s work emphasizes mentoring young women and restoring reverence to the feminine qualities of the land through earth based rituals and ceremonies. I have treasured seeing her and her son sing to the river while playing the drum. She also celebrates seasonal cycles through gatherings like the Corn Festival, bringing people together in gratitude for the Earth’s gifts. At one event, she invited elder women to offer wisdom to the younger women present—a moving moment of intergenerational care.
She is always ready to offer her land as a sanctuary for those in need of healing. Shortly after the new administration began targeting Latinx communities, she invited me to spend time there. Walking through her land—surrounded by tobacco and corn fields—has always been deeply healing. I cherish her practice of burning sage and herbs, offering the smoke to each person for cleansing and renewal, and her reverence for fire and the other elements. Her hands are healing; her courage, immense. In her steadfast commitment to restoring the sanctity of the land and its traditions, I feel the presence of all her ancestresses.
The Taínas
“Esa negra que es de raza noble y abatida/Pero que fue valentona, Anacaona” (That black woman who is of a noble and dejected race/But she was brave, Anacaona) by the Fania All-Stars
Another group we can learn from are the Taínas, who honored many zemís—spirit beings or ancestors. Often depicted in stone or wood carvings, zemís represented natural forces such as rain, fertility, plants, and protecting animals. Among them were Atabey, the Mother of Waters and goddess of fertility and creation, and her son Yúcahu, spirit of cassava and the sea, representing sustenance and life.
The Taínas cultivated the land with great skill. They planted cassava, maize, sweet potatoes, beans, squash, and tobacco, and raised agricultural mounds called conucos that kept the soil rich and fertile. Their connection to the earth was both practical and spiritual—a living dialogue with the land.
One of the spiritual ancestors whom I most admire is Anacaona, the Golden Flower. Born around 1474 in the chiefdom of Xaraguá (in what is now Haiti), Anacaona was celebrated for her wisdom, eloquence, artistry, and compassion. A poet, composer, and chieftain, she united her people through song and ceremony, welcoming strangers with dignity and generosity. When the Spanish arrived, she sought in vain to protect her community through dialogue and understanding. In 1503, Governor Nicolás de Ovando invited her and a number of other locals to a feast under the pretense of friendship—then ordered a massacre. Anacaona was captured and eventually hanged.
Though her body was taken, her spirit became one with the land, from the rivers to the ceiba trees. Today, she is remembered as a symbol of Taínx resilience, a protector of women and the Earth, and a voice for unity and healing across the Caribbean.
The Osage
“Armored in red, her voice commands
every corner. Bells gong on squares,
in steeples, answering the prayers.
Bright tulips crown the boulevards.”
(from “Birth Day” by Elise Paschen, dedicated to her baby daughter)
“I have made a footprint, a sacred one.” (from an Osage song, quoted in The Spirit of Indian Women, p. 137)
I have had the opportunity to form another connection with indigenous life thanks to my friend Stephanie Penn, who leads my Quaker Contemplative Book Group. She often speaks lovingly of her Osage grandfather and her time living on a reservation in Oklahoma. Through Stephanie, I learned how the Osage blended elements of their spiritual traditions with Quaker influences, building a bridge between two worlds. Recently, she shared her perspective on the atrocities against the Osage people recounted in Killers of the Flower Moon. She wrote:
“My favorite part is the last sequence of the film where 100s of present-day Osages were dancing around the drum […] It is so visually beautiful and emotionally hopeful! I knew many Osages in the film, even a cousin, and it was weird to see them on the silver screen! Scorsese initially planned to shoot the film entirely outside of Oklahoma until our Chief invited him to visit the reservation; the visit changed him personally and professionally. Scorsese had the entire script rewritten to emphasize the Osage story, shot the entire film on the reservation (four years after I left) and used Osage people for all aspects of the filming, including food service by a talented chef who used to deliver meals to my front door! Another personal note: my grandfather and grandmother left Oklahoma for California with my infant father during the Reign of Terror, soon after my full-blood, Osage speaker and Peyotist great-grandfather died of pneumonia in 1922.”
I am especially moved by the pride and artistry of Osage women—their exquisite blankets and intricate beadwork, as well as their approach to weaving. In Osage tradition, weaving—especially finger weaving and ribbon work—is a sacred art that fosters identity, continuity, and community. Practiced primarily by women, it carries profound spiritual meaning, linking the maker to ancestral knowledge and ceremonial life. The vibrant sashes, belts, and ribbons worn in dances such as the I’n-Lon-Schka symbolize the harmony of all living things. Through their creativity, Osage women have preserved and revitalized these traditions.
According to Osage oral tradition, their people once lived in the sky as spirits, children of the Sun and Moon. The Elk, a sacred being, dove into the water that covered the Earth and called forth the winds to reveal dry land. Descending from the sky and taking physical form, the Osage thus found a new home. This story reflects their understanding of balance between the celestial and earthly realms. They see themselves as descendants of both Sky People and Earth People—guardians who connect the heavens with the living world.
The Hands of Our Ancestresses
Indigenous traditions embody many of Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings—especially in their reverence for elders, Mother Earth, and all forms of life. Elders are the culture-bearers of their communities. Through stories, rituals, and songs, they nurture continuity, wisdom, and compassion, reminding younger generations of their sacred connection to the land and to one another.
The work of indigenous women as healers, artists, and spiritual leaders reveals a profound commitment to generosity and detachment. The belief that things are “less important than people” echoes the spirit of non-attachment that Thay teaches. Their ceremonies and sacred transfers—like the sweat lodge, Sun Dance or peace pipe—embody mindfulness and interbeing, teaching that the divine is present in all things.
One of the rituals I cherish in our Journeywomen gatherings at Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Maryland is lighting candles for our ancestresses. We always light three—one for a founder, one for a member who has recently passed, and one for all our ancestresses, sisters, and female descendants. I am especially moved by how the hands of our ancestresses live on with us. Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us to look at our hands and see our mothers and grandmothers still there.
When I create art, I see not only Thay’s graceful calligraphy but also my Venezuelan grandmother’s loving touch—her art, her faith, her resilience. Like her, and like the Indigenous women who shaped their worlds with love and courage, I hope to use my own hands to nurture healing and connection for generations to come.
On Monday, after our meditation period, we may want to explore the following questions:
Who are the ancestresses or ancestors I admire and why?
How can I teach the values of resilience, creativity, and mindfulness to younger generations?
How can I help restore harmony with the earth through my own hands?
Resources:
To Join the Oak Flat Buddhist Group, of the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery: fill out this form.
To Learn More About Oak Flat:
Apache sacred land threatened by mining in Arizona - 10-min overview video
Apache Stronghold website and Facebook page read by Lauren Redniss
Other Books:
Silence: Listening to the Land, Healing the Colonizer Mind by Louise Dunlap (Louise's newsletter: louisedunlap.net)
The Spirit of Indian Women, edited by Judith Fitzgerald and Michael Oren Fitzgerald
Hasta los baños te curan: Plantas medicinales, remedios caseros y sanación espiritual en Puerto Rico (Even the Baths Heal You: Medicinal Plants, Home Remedies, and Spiritual Healing in Puerto Rico) by María Benedetti